Deeper Than You Thought
by GBJackson
Summary: "Take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes." That was the catch point of Morpheus' usual monologue when freeing a mind. Just one problem. As deep as he had come to know it, the rabbit hole went far deeper still.
1. Chapter 1

I neither own nor claim any rights to The Matrix...

Deeper Than You Thought  
Trance

He was surrounded by people with guns. Zion was a free city, but there were certain places even there that you just didn't go without permission. The Hero District was one such place, reserved for citizens who took part in and survived the last battle, before Neo sacrificed himself to save everyone on both sides of the war.

Most people who tried to gain entrance to the district did so out of a simple desire to show appreciation to those who risked everything. Some, however, were jealous and had more sinister plans. Trance had neither motivation. He was here to reveal the truth to the only one who would likely be open-minded enough to see it.

The people with guns were taking him right where he wanted to go. A few minutes later, he was standing in front of the man he hat come to see. Morpheus.

"You are called Trance, correct?" Morpheus said.

Trance was not impressed. He had not been out of the Matrix for very long. And the names of those recently awakened were easily accessible to someone of Morpheus's rank. Nevertheless, he respected the man greatly, and he had no desire to get on his bad side. "Yes, sir," he answered.

"What brings you here, Trance?" Morpheus asked, getting right down to business.

Trance cleared his throat. "I am here to tell you that this is all a lie."

Morpheus looked around. "You mean the peace? I know that. It is only a matter of time befire one side attacks the other directly, and the war will be back on."

"Not the peace," Trance said, spreading his hands in an all-encompassing gesture. "Zion. The so-called real world. All of it!"

Morpheus leaned back on the couch he was sitting on. "Explain."

Trance nodded. "I've studied your campaign tactics. Your use of the white rabbit. The analogy you use about Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. Your enticing promise to show just how deep the rabbit hole goes." he laughed. "You think you know so much, but you have yet to realize..."

Morpheus was frowning, the first stirrings of annoyance beginning to gnaw at him. "Realize what?"

Trance leaned forward. "That the rabbit hole goes deeper than you thought." he sighed. "The so-called real world is just another layer of the Matrix. I don't know how many layers it has. In fact, I fear that there are so many that if we were to finally escape from the last one, we wouldn't know it."

"What proof do you have of this?" Morpheus asked. He was intrigued. This Trance spoke with confidence and conviction, and there was no deception in the man's eyes.

"You know who I am. You know that I was recently awakened?"

Morpheus nodded. He had called up the report of Trance's recovery five months ago.

Trance pulled up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal an arm without plugs.

Morpheus stared at it. "How is this possible?"

Trance smiled. "At this moment, I am jacked in on my ship, the Paralax. Bring your team and come see me. I'll tell you my story."

With that, Trance closed his eyes and a peaceful expression spread on his face, and he faded away in the same digital distortion effect Morpheus had come to be all too familiar with, as he had witnessed his fellow compatriots returning to their bodies at the end of missions into the Matrix.

"Oh my God!" he said. He didn't waste any time. He put in a call for his team to meet him at the docks within the hour.

O O O

Trance woke up in the insertion chair as his captain removed the plug from his head jack. He smiled. "Thanks for your help, sir." he said.

Captain Darkspire nodded. "You convinced me, son. I only hope you can convince Morpheus. we're all in grave danger as long as we are blind to the truth."

"The truth shall set us free," Trance

Darkspire nodded. "Free indeed."


	2. Chapter 2

_I neither own nor claim any rights to The Matrix..._

**Deeper Than You Thought  
****Train to Nowhere**

Morpheus, Niobe and Link had no trouble finding the Paralax in the Docks. A hovervcraft built after Neo's sacrifice, commanded by Captain Darkspire with a mission to assist in the recovery of those who, when presented with the truth and the option to leave the Matrix, chose the Red Pill, one of whom just happened to be the young man they were coming to see. One's ship was one's sovereign territory, even when docked in Zion. But nobody obstructed them as the strode through the gangway to enter.

Darkspire himself was waiting just inside the ship to offer greeting. "Fleet Captain Morpheus," he began. "Welcome to the Paralax."

Morpheus nodded. "Captain Darkspire. I trust you know why I we are here?"

Darkspire smiled. "Indeed I do. To answer Trance's invitation, so you can learn how he can do what he can do. Believe me, sir, I was skeptical. But when he appeared standing next to me while laying there jacked in, I just knew there was something Next Level going on. He's onto something _big, _sir. My advice is to take him seriously."

"I fully intend to," Morpheus replied with a slight smile.

"Right this way, folks," Darkspire said, turning away and proceeding into the bowels of the Paralax. He led them to the mess hall, where Trance was eating a bowl of Food. The same stuff that any crew carried for sustanence. Runny eggs. Tasty Wheat. A bowl of snot. It had been compared to a lot of things in Morpheus' time as captain of the Nebuchadnezzar. But he had just come to think of it as "Food." Every bowl of it he ate was a reminder that he had survied long enough for one more meal.

"Fleet Captain Morpheus," said Trance, standing from the table. "Welcome. Thank you for coming. Can I get you some Food?"

"No thank you," Morpheus said, at the same time Link said, "Yeah, I could eat."

Niobe sighed and rolled her eyes.

Trance walked to the Food dispenser and filled a bowl with the pasty goop, pulled a spoon out of a utensile holder, carried them to the table and sat the bowl down. "You three may as well have a seat, as this is not going to be something I can explain fast."

The three sat down across from him, and then he sat back down, taking another bite of Food.

"First of all," Trance said. "I need to tell you that In the Matrix, I have the abilities of The One. I studied Neo's file while acclimating to this world, and what having a Free Mind means. I can fly. I can move faster than everyone else. And I can stop bullets."

"Then why haven't we heard anything about you?" Niobe asked, voice dripping with disdain.

"What," Trance said. "You think I'm going to be obvious about it? Give the machines a reason to sidestep the treaty dealing with a clear threat to their existance? I am not crazy. There are a lot of opportunities to practice these skills without going head-to-toe with Agents or the Marovengian's thugs. I've always been a bit of a thrill seeker. Most people don't take short cuts through back alleys. when I was still plugged in, I had family who were killed by thugs. After my mind was freed, I figure that a little payback was in order."

"Not something I approved of," interjected Captain Darkspire. "I had him cleaning the decks for a week for going off mission to test his abilities like that."

"Good," Morpheus said to Darkspire. He turned back to Trance. "Please continue."

"Anyway," Trance said. "they emptied their weapons at me. I held up my hand and willed the bullets to stop. And they did. I beat the everloving hell out of them. I didn't kill them, though. Even people like them deserve a chance to be free. I told them as I walked away that just as Jesus forgave me, I forgive them."

"Whatever, man," Link said.

Niobe laughed, "What a sack of-"

"NIOBE!" Morpeus exclaimed. "In spite of whatever you believe, I have always respected people who hold to the Christian faith. Those who truly understand its teachings are open to a great deal more than the average person who believes in nothing. It may surprise you both to learn that before I began searching for The One, I was a Christian. I still am. But God and Jesus are of the _next_ life, The Matrix and the freeing of minds is the here and now." he turned back to Trance. "I apologize for the outburst. Please go on."

"It's quite alright, sir," Trance said. "I've gotten used to scoffers. Suffice to say that I have followed the path of Neo. But where his path ended, mine continues."

"You are _not_ greater than Neo, kid," said Link.

"And Neo was not greater than anyone else," said Trance. "He did not have time to go further. Necessity drove him to confront the Machines. To do what he had to do to put the war on hold. If it had been different, it is likely that _he_ would be the one telling you this."

Link looked to Morpheus, who leaned forward, intent on hearing what Trance was saying. So he decided not to offer a retort.

Niobe was following Morpheus' lead. In thos last days, as Neo himself had said, time was always against them. They learned what they had to learn, so they could do what they had to do. It was no different for Neo, though what he could do went beyond her understanding.

"Something never sat right with me," Trance said. "Right after you lost your ship, Morpheus, Neo was able to stop sentinels in this that you call the real world. How is that possible? It really shouldn't have been. When he did it, he crashed."

Morpheus and his companions looked at each other.

"Do you know what the Train Station is? The one Neo was trapped in?"

Morpheys nodded. "We believe it is a node that exists between the machine mainframe and the Matrix. The Trainman is the program that can access it."

Trance smiled. "And yet, somehow, Neo's consciousness found it's way there, from the real world?" he used quotation fingers when he said the last two words."

Link's jaw dropped. Morpheus and Niobe exchanged glances. "Somehow," Morpheus said, leaning forward.

"Alright," said Trance. "I told you that the Rabbit Hole goes deeper than you think. This place, which you call the 'real world' is no more real than the Matrix. I told you when I visited you that this is just yet another layer. It is designed for those who realize the truth, and find their way out." He used quotation fingers when he said that last word. "I suspect that it supplies them with the facts, with a war scenario playing in the background to keep them focused on the so-called reality of it."

"Wait a minute," Link said. "Are you saying that we are all still plugged in?, and we are now in a version of the matrix that reflects what's really going on?"

Trance nodded. "That's right. And the Train Station is a default hub between all of the program environments. the machine mainframe. The previous layers of the Matrix, and this one," he looked at each of them before continuing. "When Neo tried to use his power to stop the sentinels, he performed an illegal function call. At least, illegal for the program environment his consciousness was in at the time. Remember the less advanced computers in the Matrix, running early versions of Windows? When something like that happened, you got a BSOD."

"A what?" Asked Niobe.

"Blue Screen of Death," explained Morpheus. "And when it happened, the computer crashed and had to be restarted."

"Exactly," said Trance. "But then in later versions of the OS, the same things could happen, only after the BSOD, rather than requiring full restart, the computer crashed back to desktop. And what is desktop?"

Morpheus nodded. "The default hub of the operating system."

Link shook his head and stood up, turning his back to Trance. "I'm sorry. But I believe that Neo sacrificed himself to save us." he turned back around and fixed trance with a cold stare. "He was the One, not you, kid." He turned his attention to Morpheus, "And I cannot believe that you're even listening to this crap!"

Morpheus smiled slightly. "It makes sense. I am not saying I like it, but it does make sense."

"Niobe?" Link said, tirning to her.

She pursed her lips for a moment, then shook her head. "I'm not as computer-savy as Morpheus, but I do agree that it does make sense."

Link rolled his eyes and looked up at the celing. "I can't believe this!"

Trance had been watching the exchange and glanced over to Captain Darkspire. "They say seeing is believing," he said.

"Lady and Gentlemen," Darkspire said. "If you will all follow me? There's something you need to see,"

Everyone who was seated, including Trance, stood and they all followed the captain of the Paralax out of the mess hall. The ship was laid out similar to most other hovercrafts, so it didn't take long to realize they were headed to the link bay. Niobe's eyes widened, Morpheus merely grunted and Link's jaw dropped. There, on a link chair, sat Trance, clearly jacked into the Matrix.

Link shook his head. "So he's a twin. It isn't unheard of."

Trance walked over to stand beside the link bed, so everyone could see him and its occupant. "I'm ready to come out, Bryce" he said. looking in the direction of the Paralax's operator.

"Stand by," Bryce said, flipping some switches, tapping the touch screen, and hitting a few keys.

Trance tensed up and gritted his teeth as if bracing for pain, then disolved into the familiar distortion field of one logging out if the Matrix, and vanished. His duplicate bolted upright, screaming in obvious agony, reaching behind his head and pulling the jack out. He sat there panting for a moment, then looked directly at Link. "I trust I'm not going to have to do that again."

Link just stared at trance, eyes wide. "Oh... My... God!"

Trance grinned.

"You were in pain when you came out," Morpheus observed.

"Yeah," said trance. "It hurts when I go in as well, but not as bad. More like a memory of pain. But coming out feels like a million wasps stinging me all at once," He shook his head. "As if I've ever really been stung by a wasp."

Niobe swallowed. "Why does it hurt?"

Trance sighed. "My guess it has something to do with the carrier waves of both my RSI and actual body merging. The closer my RSI is to my body when I come out, the greater the pain. I originally planned to come out while we were in the Mess Hall, but Link here needed a demonstration to prove that there weren't any tricks being played."

"Sorry, man," Link said. "If I had known about the pain thing..."

Trance held up his hand. "It's alright, Link. The Truth always brings some unpleasant elements with it. I would rather suffer that a thousand times if it means people learn the Truth. It would be a sin to do otherwise."

"How is this possible," Niobe asked.

Trance looked at her. "I could say, God wills it, but because Judeo-Christian faith, for so many people in this layer of the Matrix, was part of the lie they were forced to live in the previous layer, God willing it may be hard to swallow."

Morpheus nodded. "And yet, everything about the Matrix, regardless of layer, draws on elements of the real world, before the Matrix existed. That includes religions. The Machines don't believe. But to them, those who find truth in a religion stop looking for it anywhere else and they don't feel threatened. But even for some of them, like myself, and clearly like Trance, something never seems quite right about the world they exist in. Our faith in God remains, but we start looking at the world as if it is something we are expecting to wake up from."

Niobe shook her head. "That's all well and good. I grew up with all that Jesus is my Savior crap."

"It's not crap!" retorted Trance.

Niobe rolled her eys. "Whatever. I'll admit that seeing what you just showed us is enough to make me consider almost anything. Neo had that effect on me as well. But I'm not ready to sit around some campfire, holding hands and singing Kumbaya."

Trance stifled a laugh.

Link cleared his throat. "I'm supposed to be the cynic, here. No offence, Trance, but how is this supposed to help us?"

Trance sighed. "Well... Other than knowing the truth, than none of us is truly free from the Matrix, you also know that you've got someone who can do the things Neo could do. And with the truce in effect, I've got time to explore as many possibilities as I can. Time was a luxury Neo didn't have. If he did, I'm sure he would have discovered the Truth himself. I just want you to know that when the time comes, I plan to be ready to do what I can."

Morpheus nodded. "The truce cannot last forever. Eventually, someone on either side... or neither side... will break it. When that happens, We will need every possible resource at our disposal."

Trance shook his head. "That's not what I mean. We're still plugged in. That means the truce is as much a lie as the rest of this. But if I can project my RSI into this layer, there has to be a way to project into other layers. If I can figure out what the next layer is, what its rules are, then maybe I can find a way to expose the truth there as well... It may be that if the truth is revealed in enough layers, the stability of the Matrix may be compormised. I am convinced that the machine war is real. A real cease fire needs to happen.


End file.
